This World

by Lee, TD

  I quickly question, “So all of your main adversaries were mind controllers? And didn’t all of them end up dying? Or at least I know Puppeteer and Nymph did.”

  He answers, “Puppeteer is the only one that died. Kitsune is being held in a highly guarded prison, Nymph sent into some otherworldly dimension. They’re all far away so they can’t hurt anyone anymore. Don’t believe everything the public says. Nymph didn’t die, but many would say she did by my hands.”

  “Doesn’t that bother you?” I ask. I know it would bother me if people had so many misconceptions about me.

  He takes a deep breath. He looks around which causes anyone that’s staring at him to avert their gazes. “No, not as much as it did. After my downfall in the public eye, I tried so hard to gain the favor. As you can tell from the people around you, it didn’t really work out. So, I just grew to not care. I’ll just accept it as who I am.”

  “But it does bother you. I can tell,” I remark.

  “Listen, sometimes it’s just easier to accept the criticisms as if they were fact,” he monotonously responds.

  “But it bothers you so much. You can’t even accept that Hiro looked up to you!” I say a lot louder than I intended to.

  Drake replies in a frustrated, yet hushed voice, “Because I’m not someone he should look up to!” The people around us start moving away, but keep their gazes on Drake. Do they think he’s going to attack me or something? He takes another look around and takes a deep breath again. “Listen, no one should be looking up to me. There’s nothing redeemable about me. I never understood what it was about me that your best friend found so interesting that he was a fan to the end. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “He knew that you were still a hero. Even if people didn’t like you, he stood behind you because he knew that there was more to your history than the public knows. You were always a hero in his eyes and there was always a reason for it. He believed in you,” I say, trying to encourage him the best I can.

  “But why? I never understood. Not just from Hiro, but from someone else. I, just, never understood,” he quietly responds.

  Someone else? It has to be Jackel right? “Jackel obviously saw something good in you too.”

  “Jackel,” he mumbles.

  “Can you tell me more about her? What happened to her?” I ask, trying to drive the conversation into a better topic.

  Drake hesitates to talk. “Do you want to know the truth?”

  What kind of question is that to my question? I’m a little scared to know what the truth is now. “Yeah, yeah I do.”

  “Dammit,” Drake mumbles, defeated. “Fine.” He readjusts his posture and takes heavy breaths in hesitation before he starts to tell me. “Jackel, she was my queen. Even after my decline in the public eye, she stood by me as an ally and eventual lover. She healed my heart after having it shattered by Kitsune. She helped me move on and helped create a beautiful relationship. My ice queen, she deserved better than me, but she stood by me anyway. The public hated our relationship. A Deviant with a non-Deviant? It was blasphemous, even though we both have superpowers. The thought of having a Deviant with someone who isn’t was just a sin upon humanity. People couldn’t accept us. I even suggested we end things just so neither of us get hurt, but she didn’t care. She wanted to continue the relationship. She was so strong and beautiful and her willpower made me love her even more. Yet, she fell victim to these damned fire powers.”

  “What?”

  “Let me tell you Ridley, I hate my fire powers with a burning passion. Fire destroys. It ruins lives more than it helps. It doesn’t pick sides it just consumes and leaves nothing but victims. The only reason why I use them is that my fire abilities are more powerful than my earth ones,” he takes a deep breath and ignites a flame over his palm, “these flames have done nothing, but hurt me and anyone that unfortunately was cared by me.” He forms his hands into a fist and extinguishes the flames. “There’s nothing I would give more than to never have had superpowers.”

  “But everyone wishes they had powers, how could you think otherwise?” I question.

  “I’m not like other people. I was living just a fine life without powers. But once I got these powers, things took a turn on me. Like I said earlier, some people with powers just live normal lives, I would give anything just for that, but I can’t. These damned powers are what ultimately killed the love of my life,” he painfully recalls

  Killed the love of his life? He killed Diamond Dust?

  He lips quiver as he proceeds to explain. “The Puppeteer was my biggest adversary. I’m sure you know that I killed him with the very flames that I hate. I did it out of rage. The Puppeteer took the woman I loved and used her against me. Then used my feeble mind against her. It was a horror scene in my eyes. Just seeing her melt away.”

  “Melt away,” I murmur. No way. That couldn’t have happened.

  Drake bites his inner cheek, his eyes lost in horrible nostalgia looks around. “I tried so hard to fight against the mind control. I fought so hard and tried to stop using these flames under the Puppeteer’s control. When I finally snapped out of it, the woman I loved ended up as a puddle with just an ice sculpture of a head remaining. I couldn’t snap out of it in time. Seeing what had happened, I snapped and went on a rampage. Using any possible means to end the Puppeteer as brutally as I was forced to end Jackel. Since then, the public eye has hated me. Heroes don’t kill, just pacify is what they say. If only it were that simple.”

  “The public really hates you still for something like that? I think almost anyone would’ve snapped if they were in your position.”

  “Sure, anyone would’ve snapped, but because I was an up and coming hero it destroyed the expectations that were placed on me. My actions alone further ruined the perception people have towards Deviants. People already thought Deviants were dangerous and my actions further cemented that thought in the mind of the public. It’s lovely being the hated one between Deviants and non-Deviants alike,” he remarks with a few breathy, sarcastic chuckles here and there. “The one good thing that came out of that incident is that I’ve been immune to mind control. Some say my willpower is what is powering me through it which is funny because I feel like I don’t have any of that left. The reason why I’m trying to find King or any other mind controller is that other people don’t have to suffer the same fate as me. My immunity to any sort of psychic suggestion is the only thing I have against these bastards, so since I can’t get out of the superhero gig, I’ve made it my mission to at least track down every mind controller and put them in their place. Good or bad, no one deserves to have their mind be used for someone else’s gain.”

  “So you have an immunity to mind control?”

  “Mind control and any sort of telepathic powers won’t work on me. Useful, but it came at a cost. My immunity to mind control is the main reason why Adele wanted me to join the rest of you, I’m the only one that can get in close to mind controllers without any sort of aid. Don’t know why she didn’t just want to find a telepath since they can help with that stuff also, but whatever,” Drake answers. “Now, let me help you,” he suggests, suddenly changing the topic to me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been mind controlled right? Well, as you heard, I’m pretty well-versed in the world of that. There are some things that I learned that can help with dealing with the aftermath of mind control if you’d like to learn,” he explains.

  “Oh, um, yeah, that would be great,”

  “Tip number one when it comes to being a victim of mind control. Always have something that will keep you grounded, something physical that keeps you grounded will help you understand what’s real and what’s not. For me, it’s this,” Drake reaches into his shirt and pulls out a shiny crystal that’s rather smooth and clear. “This is an ice crystal that Jackel created herself. She gave it to me as a way to keep myself grounded in reality.” He takes the crystal and gently pokes me with it. My hand reactively jolts from the burnin
g cold sting that the crystal had. “It will never melt and with how cold it is, it help shock my senses when I need it to. Whenever there are those lingering voices or mental images that randomly pop up, a keepsake will always be useful.”

  “Does something to help keep me grounded have to be as cold or something like that?” I ask.

  Drake shakes his head and tucks the crystal back under his shirt. “As long as it’s something important to you then it’ll work. Like if it’s a picture, memorize every little detail of the picture. Who’s in it, the emotion at the time, even the tiny people in the background if that’s the case. Memorize everything. As long as it has meaning to you, it can help you.” He takes a deep breath and big bite of the taco that has been untouched for some time now. After he finishes chewing he continues, “Tip two and last one for now, any of those mental voices or images that happen to you, other than using a keepsake, confront them, talk to them. Provided that you’re in a safe place to do so, talk with those. Don’t just think, mind control is already in your head, verbally say things because if you don’t your thoughts might get even worse. You need to try to seize control of your mind so the control doesn’t affect you as much.”

  “Th-thanks,” I say. Confront those times when I see things or hear things huh?

  Drake looks at me for a brief moment and cracks a small smile. “You’re surprisingly an easy person to talk to.”

  “I am?”

  “Yeah, just something about you makes it easy. Could be the nagging too, but who really knows,” he says, slightly laughing.

  I don’t know whether or not I should take that as a compliment now. “W-well thanks. I just really want to understand now. If I had listened to Hiro, I wouldn’t be so out of the loop on anything superhero related,” I respond.

  “Well, it’s never too late to learn. You learned about my story, there’s nothing really stopping you from learning other stories out there too. I’m sure Hiro would appreciate that, considering how big of a superhero fanatic he was. Do him some justice and make him proud,” Drake says, encouragingly. This is a different side of Drake that I’m definitely not used to. First Ainia, now Drake? Weird. “Yeah, I have a heart inside here, don’t look at me like that.”

  “S-sorry,” I say, not even realizing I was looking at him strangely.

  He stands up and grabs the boxes with the remaining tacos. “Come on, let’s head home. I’ll show you some stuff.”

  Chapter 28

  What Drake had to show me were journals and photos when he was younger. He told me that journals are really useful in helping keeping myself in check whenever something happens to me. Writing it down will help keep my thoughts consistent. The photos were there because it helps Drake remind him of better times. After a certain point the pictures were all of Jackel or of him and Jackel. He really loved her and they worked really well together. She freezes, he burns, and together they create steam—or at least that’s what Drake said himself. Drake warmed up to me more since he told me about his past. While he’s a bit secretive here and there, he’s exposed a lot more of his personality than what’s on the surface. He’s a really nice guy, really caring for the people around him even at the cost of having to be the blunt guy that tells things how it is which made him rather hated even if he was right. He tries to crack some jokes here and there, but they’re a bit dry and I don’t quite get them.

  Drake even talked about Hiro and how Hiro was a bit of a beacon for him to continue the superhero thing even after everything that he had done. Just knowing that he had one Meteorite—he groaned when he said that again—kept him going. Drake still questioned why Hiro looked up to him, so I told him that he saved Hiro in a burning house. Drake doesn’t quite remember since the mind control thing messed with a lot of his earlier memories, but he was glad that Hiro had a legitimate reason for looking up to him.

  “If I had known that was the reason why he looked up to me, maybe I would have actually had him trained as a sidekick,” Drake regretfully said.

  Knowing this information, there’s a lot more regret in Drake’s words than there were before. Maybe if Drake would’ve known about Hiro more, maybe he would still be alive.

  Before we could dive in deeper with hypotheticals, it’s time for us to head to the agency. Drake gets dressed properly rather than wearing shorts and a tank top. Once he’s done, he flies me, again, to the agency.

  When we arrive we’re greeted by Shiko who tries to climb up my leg. We work our way to Adele’s office and what we see is a frustrated looking Dom and a calmingly frustrated Adele. Kirika and Ainia are here too, but it looks like they’re being filled in on the information by Adele. Vesper is probably somewhere in this room, hiding in a shadow.

  “It appears we’re all here, have we learned anything?” Ainia asks, looking over at the assailant sitting and tied up in a chair. The assailant’s long hair hangs over their face.

  “Unfortunately, there was not a lot of information I was able to extract from the assailant, she is rather unwilling to speak about anything,” Adele answers with a long sigh. She continues to say something else, but I tune her out because I’m so fixated on the person who tried to kill me.

  I move closer to take a better look at the assailant who attacked me. To my surprise I see a familiar face. “M-Mari?” I question out loud. She looks up at me with angry eyes, she snarls at me a bit. With how she’s looking, I doubt she’ll answer anything I have to say. Her hands are behind her back and it looks like they’re cuffed. It was Mari who attacked me? She’s the one that has been killing superheroes? Why? And how did I not catch onto this earlier? Then again, she looks like anyone else, there’s nothing that really stood out about her that would make her seem so devious. So I try to move back to everyone else.

  I'm suddenly grabbed by Mari, a formed knife presses against my neck. Everyone else approaches, but Mari yells, “No one move or Ridley gets sliced!” Weapons of all sorts surround everyone else, blades pointing at them.

  My heart is pounding. I know if I do anything to attempt an escape I’m going to die. What do I do? What does everyone else do?

  Adele attempts to negotiate, “Do not do something so foolish in our presence.”

  “No! You’re not telling me what to do! I’m calling the shots and you will be letting me go!” she screams, briefly pointing the knife in her hand threateningly at the group before returning it at my neck. She pokes it a bit and I can feel a small dribble of blood start oozing out.

  Dom frustratingly returns a shout, “Bitch, who do you think you’re up against? We will-”

  Mari interrupts, “You will do what I want or you will all die! Now let me-”

  Mari’s interrupted by herself, she suddenly starts screaming in agony, "N-no! No!" She drops her knife, it barely avoids severing a toe off.

  Drake pulls me away from Mariana. She's freaking out about something and I don't really know what or why. Her hands tightly clutch her head, she starts pulling her hair a bit too. Eyes completely freaked out. Face of despair and horror. Just what's happening to her?

  She continues to scream in agony, "No, Sir King! Please don’t do that! Please!”

  Mari tries to hurl weapons at us, but the floor rises from the ground to protect us. Did Drake use his earth powers? The weapons in the air quiver around us, but show no sign of damaging us any time soon.

  "Adele, please," Kirika grunts. Her eyes are glowing a scary purple with red wisps that seem to flow out of her eyes. Even her skin is becoming paler, making her look sickly.

  "Just a little longer," Adele mutters watching Mari intently.

  The weapons in the air straighten out and look like they’re about to fall on us. Before that could happen, a figure emerges from the shadows and grabs all of the weapons before they could fall on us. The figure melds into a shadow and re-emerge into physical form without the weapons. It’s Vesper who turns to all of us and throws up a victory sign and a wink?

  “Please, Sir King!” Mari continues to yell, her
whole body is crumpled to the floor as she continues to clutch her head. “I won’t fail! Please, give me another chance, I won’t fail! Everything will work for the big moment. The Seeker. Disengaging safeties. Everything will! Please, forgive me!” Mari submits to the floor, unconscious.

  “You can stop now Kirika,” Adele orders.

  Kirika’s eyes return back to her normal color, her skin reverts back too. She takes a large, deep breath to regain her composure, but she falls to the ground regardless. Mari isn’t moving, but I can tell she’s breathing. All of the urgency that came from her outburst is dispelled.

  Adele kneels down to talk to Kirika, “Are you okay?”

  Kirika nods her head in assurance. She says, "Just don't ever have me do that again. I hate using these Hag powers."

  Dom moves over to Mari and ties her arms with some sort of cloth. She throws Mari’s arms down and sits on her. “We learn anything?”

  Adele stands up and smiles. “Yes, we have learned quite a bit.”

  “Care to fill us in?” Drake asks, leaning against a wall.

  “This girl, her name is Mariana, but she is a rather inconspicuous villain that has used the aliases of Smithy and Melder. She is a Deviant and was once part of the Oberon’s Legion of Misguided Deviants. Her superpower is the ability to create weaponry out of thin air as you all have witnessed. It is confirmed that she is the one that has created and killed the victims of the murders as she can create any weapon. However, she cannot mimic properties of certain weapons, only design,” Adele begins to explain. She takes a deep breath and begins pacing around the room. “She is most definitely not the mastermind behind it all as we saw with her outburst.”

  “Yeah, what was that by the way?” Dom interjects.

  Everyone focuses their attention to Kirika who is still recovering on the floor. “Adele spoke to me earlier, saying that I may have needed to use my Hag powers to gain more information of the situation at hand. As much as I hate it, if I need to use it so it all ends, I’ll do it,” she says, still taking deep breaths.